With the ever-increasing proliferation of communication devices and methods to access the Internet, a growing number of people make use of the Internet on a daily basis. Recent statistics indicate that close to 900,000,000 people have Internet access in 2005. According to some estimates, this represents a 146% increase from 2000. As more and more people gain access to the Internet, the Internet has become an invaluable tool for those who wish to market their businesses.
Companies or businesses that have a website are able to penetrate a market beyond their local geographic area, as the website is easily accessible worldwide. A website allows a business to provide a potential customer with information pertaining to their business including the place of business, hours, goods and/or services offered.
A website for a business provides a very simple and effective means to promote their business to an increasing number of people. The Internet has become a tool of first resort for many when researching a business (including the name, address, and business hours).
Establishing a website is often a difficult task for small businesses. Individuals who do not have experience with creating websites and publishing information on the Internet will typically find it difficult to design and publish their own website. Typically, most business owners do not have the technical skills required to establish and maintain a website. Also, a great deal of knowledge and effort is required to ensure that the website is aesthetically pleasing to view. As a result, a great deal of time and effort, or expenditure is involved in order to establish even a simple website.
As a result of the difficulty and potential costs associated with establishing a website, many software applications are available that help a user create a website. These programs require the user to select borders and colors and other style and design elements, as well as specifying the information that they wish to publish on the particular website. Although such programs assist a user in developing a website, a considerable amount of judgment and know how, along with the writing of the content, is still required on the part of the user in order to develop a website with these applications.
As a result of the difficulty and time involved with software applications that aid users in building websites, various tools are available on the Internet which purport to allow for the ‘automatic’ creation of websites. These tools require the user to select from various styles and layouts of templates that will be used to build their website. These automatic webpage builders also require the user to provide the content they wish to appear on the website. While these automatic webpage builders do simplify the process by which websites are built, they still require a great deal of user interaction involving the layout of the website and the specification of content that is to appear on the website. Also, these builders do not take into account the type of business or enterprise that is related to the business, and as such, the websites that have been created are very generic in nature, as they are not customized for the particular type of business.